‘I have to keep going’: Woman celebrates 103rd birthday by knitting hats for kids in neighborhood

DERBY, Vt. (WCAX/Gray News) - A woman in Vermont is celebrating her 103rd birthday by knitting hats for kids in her neighborhood.

On a cold winter’s day, Ruby Greenwood sits snuggled in her home, where sub-freezing temperatures are no concern.

Just a couple of days after Christmas, Greenwood will turn 103. “I never drank or smoked. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it,” she said. “I tried something once, when I was younger. But I was smart, I didn’t like it.”

Greenwood’s story is one of hard work from a young age. She lived on a farm in Rumford, Maine.

She made it through the 8th grade and then went to work at a restaurant.

“I couldn’t serve the liquor because I wasn’t old enough,” she said. “That’s where I met my husband, Chet. I used to ask the girls, ‘Can I wait on him?’”

The couple moved to Vermont, raised two children, and ran a lumber and building material company in Newport. For a time, she ran the school’s hot lunch program in Newport.

Chet died years ago. Now, Greenwood’s days are spent mostly knitting. From morning into evening, the needles are in motion.

“I do knit two, pearl two for about eight, nine rows,” Greenwood explained. “And then I go into these solid colors.”

She creates colorful caps that are handed out to kids in the area. She’s made about 226 hats, about a pair every other day.

Many of those hats have landed at the Derby Community Church, where Greenwood has been a member for 70 years.

On this day, she braved the elements for a church chat. She warms up seeing the kids wearing her creations, including Johnny, who’s just six months old, a century-plus age difference between them.

“Is your hat nice and warm?” Greenwood asks one child. “She’s got hers on backwards,” she notes about another.

Every child has a homemade hat. The extras will be sent to others who are in need. “I’m glad somebody can wear ‘em,” Greenwood said.

When asked why she does this, she says that she “has to keep going.”

The hats serve as an early Christmas present for the kids. In return, they sang “Happy Birthday” to Greenwood.

Back at her home, Greenwood reflects on her long life, citing the classic children’s bedtime prayer: “If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

She’s a woman who’s not afraid of dying but is living her life to the fullest. “I don’t like to give up,” Greenwood said.